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Abstract:

We study the optimal packing of hard spheres in an infinitely long cylinder, using simulated annealing, and compare our results with the analogous problem of packing disks on the unrolled surface of a cylinder. The densest structures are described and tabulated in detail up to D/d=2.873 (ratio of cylinder and sphere diameters). This extends previous computations into the range of structures which include internal spheres that are not in contact with the cylinder.

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PUBLISHEDThis paper presents additional simulation results regarding the densest packings of identical hard spheres inside a cylinder. For cases with a cylinder-to-sphere diameter ratio between 2.7013 and 2.873, a rich variety of structures, most of which consist of "internal" spheres that are not in contact with the cylinder, have been observed and identified.